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15 Feb 01 - 07:11 PM (#398974) Subject: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Yesterday,the Kentucky State Senate voted unanimously to make the Appalachian (lap)dulcimer the KY State Instrument. Next week's House session should confirm it. I'm to get a copy of the Senate session in a day or two. Kat/Katlaughing, isn't that great news? They must have heard all those good things you've been saying about it! Hear! Hear! From the Dulcimer Mama, Jean |
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15 Feb 01 - 07:24 PM (#398977) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: catspaw49 As I said awhile back, its too bad you were not able to be there yourself, but without you, the Appalchian Dulcimer would certainly not be what it is today. I have some special ties to Kentucky and I am happy they have acted so wisely. Jean, I think you'd like to know that the dulcimer is a winner with Cub Scouts as well....CLICK HERE and you'll see you got some credit coming from them too. Spaw |
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15 Feb 01 - 07:39 PM (#398988) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Yes, Spaw, I had read that thread with great interest a few days ago. Have I got my Cats mixed up- was it YOU who recently "found you instrument?" I had remembered it was Kat/Katlaughing. Sorry if Im wrong! |
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15 Feb 01 - 07:43 PM (#398990) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: catspaw49 No, its katlaughing who just got the dulcimer. I build Hammered Dulcimers and Apps and used to sell a lot of stick dulcimers at street fairs and fests. glad you saw the thread. Tinker's scouts seemed to have enjoyed their project a lot. Spaw |
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15 Feb 01 - 07:43 PM (#398991) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Lonesome EJ A perfect choice. The sound always reminds me of the hills of Kentucky. |
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15 Feb 01 - 09:29 PM (#399057) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Pinetop Slim Kytrad: Any chance you could post some excerpts from the essay you wrote for the state Senate on "Dulcimer...Sings Prettier Than a Cardinal"? |
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16 Feb 01 - 12:11 AM (#399153) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: katlaughing Hey, KYTRAD, thanks a bunch! I am glad to see they *listened*!! I just, today, learned my first shape note hymn, Holy Manna. What a beautiful tune!! And, I think I even bent the sound just a tiny. Being used to playing piano, I find it fairly easy, once I know the tune, to finger the notes, without looking! Whoo-hoo! I was singing this afternoon during practice. Had my backdoor open, with the fresh air and sunshine coming through. It was heavenly and one of my cats always comes running when I start to play! If I remember right, Jean, when you first came to the Mudcat you mentioned your Granny Katty. I just wanted to tell you, that "Katty" is what my dad always called me and I've told my daughter that Granny Katty would be a fine thing for my twin grandsons to call me, in honour of you and your Granny. They are 2.5 and right now, I am an amorphous voice on the phone whom they know as Gramma KitKat. **BG** (MY apologies if I've mis-remembered.) Thanks for remembering and for letting us know about this. Too bad for the legislators that they will miss out on hearing you. Affectionately, kat |
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16 Feb 01 - 10:15 AM (#399359) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: wes.w Over here in UK, we know who is really responsible for this.. and when is KY putting up statue of KYTRAD playing KY state instrument? Delightful news to hear ..wes |
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16 Feb 01 - 06:02 PM (#399720) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Thanks to all of you for those good words...Pinetop Slim, I'll have to dig up what I wrote- it wasn't an article, more like a paragraph, or a "Statement." Anyway, it was read into the Senate record, I believe. Immortalized!!! Kat/Kat, my granny got that name because,one day when her dad came into the room where she was sleeping, he looked down into the cradle and said, "Looka there- that young'un's all quiled up j'st like a little cat!" And she was called Katty ever since- should be spelled, "Catty," and usually is, but I wrote about her in my book SINGING FAMILY as Katty, so am stuck with the spelling. Doesn't matter... |
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16 Feb 01 - 06:06 PM (#399722) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Sorry! Somebody who knows how, delete two of the above! My prose is not that deathless...J. Got 'em. --JoeClone |
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16 Feb 01 - 06:11 PM (#399725) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: katlaughing Jean, that is funny...my friends and family have always told me how I sleep like a cat. One camping friend refused to sleep in the same tent as she said it was just like sleeping with her restles cat! My real name, Kat'leen is with a "K", so Katty it is. Thanks for sharing that with us. I hope you can dig up your statement and share it with us and I second what wes w. said, "When will they honour you with a statue or some such?" Well deserved in my opinion. Thanks very much, kat |
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16 Feb 01 - 07:17 PM (#399764) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: McGrath of Harlow Do any other states have Official State Instruments yet? Kentucky picked the right one anyway. |
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16 Feb 01 - 08:58 PM (#399823) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Bill D well, Utah says it has the guitar...but San Franciso seems to have gotten the accordian by default...*smile*and so did several other cities//maybe.. " An Internet accordion site says Detroit named the accordion its official instrument in the 1990s, just like Skokie, Ill., and St. Paul, Minn., did. But that's news to fact gatherers for the Detroit Municipal Library, the Detroit Public Library and the city of Detroit's communications office: They have no record of such a thing and consider it unlikely in the home of Motown." |
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16 Feb 01 - 09:13 PM (#399835) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: catspaw49 Hey Bill, I heard that under Mayor Berry D.C. had chosen the Nose Flute. Interesting thought on state instruments though.........Kentucky and the dulcimer are a natural, but other states? I've never heard of anything here......worth a look. Spaw |
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16 Feb 01 - 09:20 PM (#399848) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: catspaw49 Just found that Arkansas and Missouri both claim the fiddle and West Virginia seems to be deciding between the fiddle and the dulcimer. Spaw |
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17 Feb 01 - 01:16 PM (#400223) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Pinetop Slim, I dug up my statement to the KY Senate. It reads a bit sentimental- but doesn't this world need some sentimentality occasionally? Anyway: "When I left home for my first real job- that was leaving Viper, Kentucky for a social work position in New York City, in 1947- I was carrying my dulcimer and a heartful of Kentucky songs, in case I got homesick. Nobody in New York had ever seen a dulcimer, and not too many people in Kentucky had, either... At that time I never dreamed that my little homemade instrument would ever become known well enough to be chosen the state instrument for my very own beloved state- Kentucky! I feel personally honored- I can't help it- my dulcimer has been such a part of me all my life, and now the love of its music has spread in widening circles all around the country and the world, and maybe I have helped in some way to make that happen. I feel as my mother must have felt at the county fair, when her child got the blue ribbon for best ballad-singing. Someone once called me, 'The Mother of the Dulcimer-' well, here we are at a bigger fair, and this is my child you're honoring, and you have made me a mighty proud mama!" |
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17 Feb 01 - 01:28 PM (#400226) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: catspaw49 Very nice Jean. And you're right on all counts. We never know what things will come to us from the most innocent of actions. You took your dulcimer to NYC to bring a piece of your world along for you, and now we all can share in a piece of your world. And I agree there is nothing wrong with a little sentimentality. At times I think it is the major ingredient lacking in this modern culture. Perhaps one of the better things about Mudcat is that most of the folks here see nothing wrong with it either. Thanks for posting your statement. Spaw |
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17 Feb 01 - 01:53 PM (#400238) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Alice Beautiful, Jean. This is great news, and you have a right to be proud! You opened the world's ears to music that needed to be heard and preserved beyond Kentucky's borders, not to mention all the music you recorded in Ireland, Scotland, and England! I'm thrilled to have the internet medium to be able to meet and talk to you. Alice Flynn |
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17 Feb 01 - 02:53 PM (#400270) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: katlaughing That was beaufitul, Jean, thank you very much for posting it. kat |
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17 Feb 01 - 03:15 PM (#400283) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: McGrath of Harlow I suppose Boston could put in a bid to be New World custodian of the Bodhran...
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17 Feb 01 - 03:19 PM (#400285) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Banjer Lawdy, lawdy....If the State of Florida ever picks a state instrument it will probably be a heart monitor with its constant beeping, no tune but a steady rhythm, you hope! 'Course whatever they vote on will probably be tied up in recounts for years anyway! |
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17 Feb 01 - 03:30 PM (#400300) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Pinetop Slim Thanks for posting that, Kytrad. I get a little homesick for Pinetop (it's just over the hill from Bath, where Uncle Ed Thomas lived) now and then, and that heartful of songs you took out of Viper has given me a lot of solace. In Ken Burns' "Jazz" somebody told the story of how Dizzy Gillespie explained his relationship to Louis Armstrong: "No him, no me." Every dulcimer player in the country can point to Jean and say "no her. No me." |
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17 Feb 01 - 07:20 PM (#400473) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Thank you- Growing old has its compensations, sometimes! Well, the motion (or whatever it is) made it to the House, and now we're leaving for three weeks and won't know the outcome until we return I suppose. George & I are celebrating our 50th Wedding Anniversary with our sons taking us cruisin' on The Norwegian Wind, calling at Cozumel, Grand Caymans, Belize, Honduras...with our wind-chill today at 0 degrees F., I'm looking forward to that. Son Jon says the ship has an email address, so someone of you should be able to tell us the news- if you hear it??? We'll be aboard from Feb. 24-March 3. Boy- that'd make a feller feel important, getting an email at sea! Bye for awhile, Jean |
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17 Feb 01 - 07:43 PM (#400490) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: catspaw49 Well Jean, I'm personally envious, but have a great time! Another member, Seed, also got a trip from his kids on their anniversary. I like the custom. I need to save these threads to show my kids when they're older. Spaw |
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17 Feb 01 - 07:56 PM (#400495) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Banjer Jean, I just checked the website for the Norwegian Cruise lines and all their vessels reportedly have Internet Cafes, where you can go and stay in touch. Isn't technology great!! Even 300 miles out at sea you can't get away from anything! |
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18 Feb 01 - 12:41 AM (#400627) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird) The dulcimer is an instrument of Kentucky's eastern mountains. How do the dwellers of the western blue-grass lands feel about a mountain instrument being chosen to represent the entire state ? T. |
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18 Feb 01 - 08:10 AM (#400738) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Mary in Kentucky We love it. Seriously, since we have a long history of confusion over our state tree, anything that brings recognition to the music anywhere in the state is fine with me. And the Bluegrass region is in the central part of the state, the Western region is the coalfields and the Jackson Purchase (and Pennyrile). Lots of info here. |
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18 Feb 01 - 11:35 AM (#400833) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Alice Congratulations to you both on your 50 years of marriage. Alice |
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18 Feb 01 - 12:25 PM (#400859) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Mary in Kentucky Oh yes, and Jean, remember...elastic is our friend. Pants with an elastic waistband are a must on a cruise....and comfortable shoes too! Congrats to you both! |
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18 Feb 01 - 04:28 PM (#400999) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Lonesome EJ Kytrad...while in Cozumel, I highly suggest renting a car if you have time, and seeing the wild East side of the island, where there are miles of deserted beaches and very few people. There is also an interesting small Mayan ruin near the main West/East Road about the center of the island. |
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18 Feb 01 - 04:39 PM (#401001) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Mary, all my pants (trousers, for you Brits) have elastic waistbands these days- that comes with aging too,no doubt. T in OK, us mountaineers(hillbillys?) are proud of the Bluegrass- and the way I feel- Kentucky is Kentucky, in all its parts...don't get me goin ! Banjer, I'm crushed- I envisioned a steward presenting a silver salvar at my stateroom, with all my email letters printed out for me! Envisioned further that I would not be able to waste all that time every day combing the Mudcat threads... My guess is that the deck chair is going to be MORE tempting, and those sightseeing side trips, if/when I'm not too lazy. Mary, thanks for the Kentucky site- I NEVER knew that we had a State Fossil- the brachiopod??? Have you seen the Hazard, KY site? My town (7 miles from Viper)- it has zillions of old photos, lots of fun. Thanks, all, for your good wishes. We leave tomorrow for Florida, so now I'm really going. Bye again, Jean |
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19 Feb 01 - 01:38 PM (#401560) Subject: RE: Dulcimer to be Kentucky State Instrument From: Art Thieme Jean, This is totally true. I just found this thread----5 minutes after I had put your dad, Balis Ritchie, singing "Joe Bowers" on a 90-minute tape of favorites. Lady, you deserve all of the credit for this instrument being ALL OVER the U.S.A.----and then the whole world. Thank you so very much. Love to you and George, Art Thieme |